To conclude my tour of Germany, I wanted to hit a city that had been under communist rule - mainly to see what the difference was. Honestly, I didn't notice much. Although the vast majority of Dresden had been destroyed in the war, you wouldn't know it. The downtown had been restored to its original state (or so I think). The result was obviously quite beautiful; however, the rest of the city felt (and looked) quite neglected. I wonder if this was communism at its best - restore the big, impressive tourist buildings, but leave the rest untouched. Apparently the place was still full of rubble up until the late 1980's. It took something like two full years just to clear the downtown of rubble after the war. I feel like this is the point that the tour guide would emphasize to explain communism was always destined to lose out to capitalism.

I guess in the end, it was only really Berlin that I loved about Germany and I would/will definitely go back.

ASIDE: Last conclusion on the law conscious Germans: I think that anyone who was previously living in East Germany is far more law abiding than those who lived in the West.